Kazuto and Asuna: The Ticklish Experiment
by TKFics
Summary: What should have been a simple testing of new equipment to help with the advancement of virtual reality and artificial intelligence, turned out to be a ticklish nightmare that Kazuto and Asuna never could have dreamed of.


"Kazuto-kun, when you said you were taking me out on a surprise date, this really isn't what I had in mind."

"What are you talking about? This is something the both of us can have fun with together!"

Asuna's eyes twitched as she stared at the tall building the couple stood in front of, before looking back at Kazuto, who continued to smile at her.

"But…all we're doing is testing out new VR equipment! _That's_ your idea of a romantic afternoon together?!" Asuna replied, bewildered at him right now.

"Yep!" Kazuto replied gleefully as he flashed an uncharacteristically toothy grin at her. That didn't last long however, as Asuna's eyebrows furrowed before the chestnut-haired girl grabbed him by the ear, causing him to wince in pain.

"Kazuto-kun…tell me the truth." She stammered. "Did you _really_ set this up because you thought it'd be romantic or…"

"Okay okay! You got me, I got an offer from this company to test out this equipment and they wanted me to bring a friend!" Kazuto replied hastily, trying to wriggle himself away from the angry girl's grip. "They thought they'd get better results by having not one, but two big SAO survivors in on it."

"You could have just told me that upfront instead of saying it's a date you know!" Asuna frowned, before sighing. "In any case, are you sure this is legitimate? For all I know this could be another trap to send us living in a virtual world against our will again!" She added worryingly as she let go of Kazuto's ear.

"There's nothing to worry about! I signed a contract listing out all the details of the testing." Kazuto said confidently. "We're actually not doing any big full dives into a virtual world or anything like that. What we're mainly doing is testing equipment that replicates human senses and emotions into a virtual reality." Asuna just stood there with a confused look on her face as Kirito paused. She wasn't understanding this at all. "It's more of an artificial intelligence sort of thing. Basically by feeling certain emotions ourselves, we can transmit those emotions artificial intelligence."

"Oh, I get it." Asuna replied. "So, by feeling happy, we're showing A.I. what that feels like?"

"More or less. It's still in an early stage of development though, which is why I was asked to test it out."

"Huh." Asuna muttered. She really didn't know what the point of that was. She knew an A.I. that could already feel emotions very well. Why did they need more machines to show them? She guessed it was because they didn't want to touch anything that was created by Kayaba after the SAO incident, but at the same time it felt like something that didn't entirely feel like the best path forward on the issue.

She sighed. Well, for what it was worth, Kazuto seemed to be really eager to try it out, so she guessed it would be worth a shot. The two of them walked into the lobby of the building and walked up to the receptionist desk. Kazuto gave their names to the secretary there and was told to wait. The couple nodded and sat down on the nearby couch, watching the news to pass the time. After about fifteen minutes of waiting, a tall man in a suit walked up to them.

"Mr. Kazuto Kirigaya and Miss Asuna Yuuki?" He asked.

"That's us." Kazuto replied.

"Right this way please." The man replied, motioning for them to follow him. The couple looked at each other for a second, before nodding and doing so. The man led them through several hallways before stopping at an elevator. The three of them went inside, but to the couple's surprise, the man made the elevator go down instead of up. But it wasn't a mere basement level, they were going deep underground. Kazuto decided to break the silence and ask him a question.

"So, where exactly will we be doing the equipment testing? How's all this going to work?" He asked curiously. The man turned around and smiled as the elevator continued descending.

"You'll find out eventually. If I told you now, it would ruin the surprise, and the element of surprise is an emotion crucial for the purpose of the tests as well." He informed them as the elevator stopped and opened its doors. Asuna's eyebrows raised suspiciously when she saw the hallway. There were large metal steel doors that slid open, almost like some extreme security measure. The man looked into a camera, pressed a button and stated his name to be Kageyama into an intercom, causing the doors to open. The process repeated at least two more times before they arrived to what appeared to be a small lounging room. To say that Kazuto and Asuna were a little bit confused by the whole arrangement would be an understatement.

"This…feels a little bit much, doesn't it?" Kazuto asked.

"Is all this security really necessary for this?" Asuna added. Kageyama nodded.

"Our boss tends to be rather…intense when it comes to leaks regarding our company's secrets. As I'm sure you remember on the contract, you're not to tell anyone about the equipment or face legal action."

"I understand that." Kazuto replied. "But what does the testing of the equipment involved have to do with all it? Is your boss that paranoid?"

"Trust me, you don't know him. He REALLY doesn't want anyone knowing of this until it's properly released." Kageyama added. Asuna furrowed her eyebrows. She didn't buy that explanation. "In any case, the equipment won't be ready for testing for at least another hour, so please, make yourselves comfortable. We'll let you know when we're ready." He said, in almost quick and hasty manner before turning around and heading out the door.

"Wait!" Asuna cried, but he had already vanished. She was beginning to get nervous. "Kazuto-kun…I've got a really bad feeling about this."

Kirito only remained silent. He certainly wasn't expecting the process to go like this of all things. He was recommended this by some of his teachers at the school, who had claimed this company was one of the major ones in terms of VR development. He expected things to be a bit more…lenient than this. Instead of feeling like he was about to test out VR equipment he felt like he just stepped into a secret government laboratory right out of a movie. Regardless, he decided not to worry about it much and grabbed Asuna's hand. He looked at her in her beautiful yellow sweatshirt and brown skirt, while she looked back at him in his black jacket and jeans.

"I'm sure they're in a hurry to get things ready. I think we may have arrived a _little_ bit early." Kazuto reassured her, not mentioning that he remembered arriving exactly at the designated time.

"I know, but still, this…brings back bad memories…" Asuna looked down, sadly. It didn't take a second for Kazuto to realize what she was talking about. Not too long ago she was forced to spend months captive in a cage held by a madman who wanted to control her and other innocent people's memories. She would never forget the despair she felt when she was mere inches away from freedom only to have it snatched from her at the last moment. Kazuto immediately pulled her into a hug, comforting her.

"Hey, don't worry. Don't forget that I'm here too." Kazuto replied, giving her a determined smile. "Whatever they want us to do, I'm sure we'll both end up enjoying it!" He said and gave her a thumbs up.

"I hope so…I just can't help but feel a bit nervous with the way this place looks and-eh?" Asuna paused, hearing something.

"What is it Asuna?" Kazuto asked, before he heard it too. Above them, they hadn't noticed that the ceiling tiles had opened up to reveal small holes, upon which a hissing noise filled the air, along with a light, translucent gas filling the room. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together.

Kazuto angrily stormed over to the door, trying to open it, realizing in its horror that it was locked! He then began kicking and banging on it.

"HEY! What gives?! Let us out!" He yelled, gritting his teeth as he swung his fists and feet back and forward on the door, not even denting or budging the metal.

"What is this?! What's going on here?!" Asuna yelled as well, pulling her shirt up to cover her nose as Kazuto kept angrily yelling at the door. But nobody answered. The gas continued to fill the room as nobody responded to Kazuto's pleas. He quickly looked around the room in a panic, there was nothing that they could use to block the gas from coming through. He grit his teeth. They were led into a trap!

Flashbacks of being held by Sugou began filling Asuna's mind. She found herself about to hyperventilate. Soon, she ended up taking a whiff of the gas, and falling unconscious.

"ASUNA!" Kazuto yelled in fury, but that proved to be a fatal mistake, for he found himself knocked out and on the ground unconscious the minute the gas entered his mouth.

* * *

"Mg…nguh…huh?" Kazuto muttered as he slowly opened his eyes.

"Kazuto-kun! Oh thank goodness you're awake!" He heard Asuna's voice say, much to his relief. What didn't relieve him, was the sight he was greeted to upon fully waking up. Asuna was strapped down to a metal chair to his right, her shoes and socks removed to expose her bare feet to the cold air. The base of her legs above her ankles were strapped down on a low metal table in front of her.

"Asuna…what the?!" He exclaimed when he tried to move only to find himself trapped in the same position, his slender bare feet jut out in front of him as if they were on display. He grit his teeth in anger as he tried to wriggle free, but that proved to be a fruitless effort as the cuffs strapping them were of a cold, hard metal. The room they were in was dark and empty, with only a single light giving them any sort of vision at all. Everything else was obscured. "Damn…this was a trap!" He angrily exclaimed.

"K-Kazuto-kun…" Asuna looked at him fearfully, tears leaking out in the corner of her eyes.

"Asuna…I…" Kazuto found himself unable to even find the words. How could he have been so stupid to lead her into this trap?! He cursed himself for his own ignorance. It wasn't like Asuna wanted to take part in a stupid experiment anyway, now who knows what she and him would have to go through? "I'm sorry…I'll find a way out if this, I promise." He said confidently as he continued to try and wriggle away to no avail.

"Oh, that won't be necessary Mr. Kirigaya." Came a familiar voice. Out from the darkness, came Kageyama, who was smiling as if he was the most innocent and pure man in the world. His hands clapped together. "We'll be sure to let you go, once the two of you are finished with our experiment."

"What the hell do you plan on doing to us you freak?!" Kazuto angrily asked. "Being tied up like this wasn't in the contract!"

"No, but what WAS in the contract was you submitting yourself and your friend to any methods of testing our equipment that we had in mind." He sneered. "Though, I guess that part WAS hidden really well in the fine print." He said with a chuckle.

"Explain yourself! Why are we tied up for this experiment and why did you also remove our footwear?" Asuna demanded, trying to put on a brave face as her toes curled from the cold air touching her feet.

"Well let me tell you." Kageyama replied. "You're aware that our equipment is specifically focused on transmitting emotions to virtual reality to be received by artificial intelligence, correct?" He asked.

"Yeah, it was something along those lines. I don't see what that has to do with her question though!" Kazuto angrily asked.

"My my, such a temper on you." Kageyama quietly stated. "You see, we're already recording your emotional state as we speak." Kazuto just looked at him bewilderingly. "You can't see the equipment, but it's definitely active. We've definitely recorded a good amount of fear and anger from you for testing right now, I'd say. Now, as for why we removed your footwear, well…" He paused as he walked over to Kazuto's feet and knelt down slightly. He reached his hands downward and curled his fingers, just above the boy's toes.

Kazuto winced. "W-what the heck are you doing?" He glared as a pit began to form in his stomach.

"Well, if there's one state of emotion that we want to transmit to our A.I., it's the feeling of laughter." He snickered. "And what would be a better source of laughter, than two teenagers receiving this treatment?"

Before Kazuto could reply, he immediately felt the man's index finger slide up and down the sole of his foot. The motion was light and smooth. Kazuto's face twitched as he sucked down a breath, trying to control himself.

Asuna froze. In SAO and IRL, both she and Kazuto had proven themselves to be _very_ ticklish. Especially on their feet. Now this deranged man was going to tickle-torture the both of them just for the sake of an experiment? Asuna looked fearfully as she saw the look on the man's face as he ran his fingers up and down Kazuto's soles. No…that wasn't the face of someone who wanted to do a simple test. That was the face of a cruel tormentor, who took pleasure in what he was doing.

"Come on, give me a laugh!" Kageyama chuckled as the motion his fingers made changed. Now each of his four fingers were wiggling underneath Kazuto's soles in a fast, teasing motion.

"Ngh..hehe…screw…you! Heheheh!" Kazuto uttered out as giggles escaped his trembling lips. He wanted to scowl and yell at this man, but he also didn't want to give him the satisfaction of laughter. That was quickly proving to be a fruitless effort, as the taunting look on his face along with the sensation on his soles was quickly taking his toll on him. "Sto—STOP!" He uttered out as he squirmed and hopped around in his binds.

"I must say, you have such cute feet for a boy your age." Kageyama teased, his fingers starting to make their way to Kazuto's toes. "Coochie coochie coo!"

That did it. The minute Kazuto's toes started getting attacked by his fingers Kazuto's mouth burst open, letting out all the laughter he desperately tried to hold back.

"Ahahahahahahahaha! No! Quit it! Let us gohohohohohoho!" He laughed as a blush adorned his cheeks from the sheer embarrassment of his feet being called cute of all things, along with this childish torture.

"K-Kazuto-kun…?" Asuna muttered nervously as she watched him squirm and laugh. On the one hand, seeing him like that was kind of cute, on the other hand she was nervous about getting it from that man as well. It wasn't long before the man stopped tickling Kazuto's soles, lifting up his fingers. Kazuto immediately glared at him.

"Okay, you got your laughter. Now let us go!" He angrily demanded before quickly shutting up as Kageyama's index finger tapped on his left sole.

"Oh no no no, we're not even CLOSE to finishing our collection Kazuto-kun." Kageyama mocked as he turned towards Asuna, who flinched as soon as she made eye-contact with him. "We could still use the laughter from a female individual as well." Kazuto's eyes lit up with fury as soon as he finished saying that.

"NO! Tickle me all you want! Just leave her out of this!" Kazuto roared, struggling in his chair even harder. To him, this man was basically Sugou 2.0 right now. The man sneered mockingly at him as he curled his fingers and began wiggling them towards Asuna's soles. "STOP! Don't do it!" He yelled as the man ignored his pleas. Asuna shut her eyes and gripped the metal armrest of the chair as hard as she could to try and brace herself, but it was no use. The ticklishness on her feet was just far too much for her to bear any sort of resistance, and laughter escaped her lips immediately.

"Ahahahahahahaha! Nohohohoho! Plehehehehehase! Stahahahahahahahap!" She cried as she hopped around in her restraints, the tickling sensation driving her mad.

"Oooh! This girlfriend of yours has very lovely feet too!" Kageyama complimented as Kazuto continued scowling at him.

"I'll kill you you son of a bitch!" Kazuto shot back angrily.

"Oh come now, there's no need for that." Kageyama continued smirking as his fingers treating Asuna's soles as if they were a dance floor. He wiggled them all over her heels, arches, and in between her toes, with her laughing even harder with every new spot he targeted.

"Nahahahahahahahahaha not the feet not the feet not the feheheheheheheet!" Asuna squealed. "No mohohohohore no mohohohohohre!" She blurted out as she continued to be a slave to the laughter.

"Ooh, I think these toes must be your sweet spot! This will make for some good progress in developing our AI!" Kageyama glared right at her face with a horrifying grin that made Asuna wince as she continued to laugh uncontrollably. After what felt like an eternity to her, the man finally offered some mercy.

Kazuto was fuming at this point. Who the hell did this man think he was, treating them like they were toys? His piercing gaze didn't waver as the man walked over to him once again.

"You bastard…humiliating us like this! We'll make you pay!" He threatened.

"Oh, how scary!" Kageyama put his hands to his cheeks in mock-horror. "The big scary tied-up ticklish gamer and his girlfriend are gonna get me!" He fake-whined before chuckling evilly again. "Oh, we have ways to avoid any law or scheme that would come-after us, Kazuto-kun." He added. "I think you should focus on being obedient and giving us some more laughs!" He yelled as he dove his fingers into Kazuto's soles once again, once again sending the boy into a fit of laughter.

"GAAAHAHAHA!" GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY FEEEHEHEHEHEHEHEET!" Kazuto roared as the tickling sensation flooded his senses, making him unable to even think straight.

"Aww, but my hands love tickling your feet!" Kageyama mocked. "Your feet are so much fun to tickle! The way you laugh when my wiggling fingers touch your oh-so-sensitive pudgy wudgy widdle toesies is soooooo cute!" He said in a taunting voice as Kazuto continued shrieking in laughter at the top of his lungs.

"How old are you?!" Asuna shot back at his childish behaviour. As adorable as Kazuto was when he was tickled, she could only imagine how humiliating it was to have another man tickling your feet and treating you like a child.

"Oh hush hush, a little tickling like this isn't hurting you!" Kageyama retorted, playing Kazuto's toes like they were the keys of a piano, sending him into even more hysterics as his face turned beet red from the embarrassment.

"You're sure as hell hurting his pride! Cut it out and let us go already!" Asuna retorted. The man stopped tickling her boyfriend and looked directly at her. She glared at him with an intensity of pure determination, like she was about to fight a boss in SAO.

"Tsk tsk tsk, well I guess it's time you had another turn! But I think it's time I upped my game a bit!" The man sneered as he lifted up his fingers and tauntingly waved them in front of them. "Time for me to switch to a more advanced tickling tool!" He then turned around and walked over into the darkness. Kazuto and Asuna then heard the sound of objects shuffling, like he was searching for something. A few seconds later he arrived, with something that made the couple only stare at him. He was holding a small makeup brush.

"I doubt you've ever felt a tickling from one of these before. I'm sure you're all used to mere fingers doing all the work. But once you feel this, oh man you'll WISH it was just my fingers tickling you!" Both Kazuto and Asuna grit their teeth in fear and anger.

"Will you give it a rest already?! Now you're just screwing with us for the sake of screwing with us!" Kazuto yelled. "This can't have anything to do with what we signed up for!"

"Oh, it has a LOT to do with what you signed up for, Kazuto-kun." Kageyama chuckled. "It's just not what you expected, that's all." He tauntingly scowled at him. "And I love every minute of it!" He said as he shot the brush down to Asuna's feet and began circling it around her soles, toes, heels, and every other corner it could reach.

The reaction was immediate as Asuna screamed. "AAAAAAAAH! AHAHAHAHA! AHA! STOP! NOHOHOHOHOHOOHOO STOP STOP STOP STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHP! Asuna belted her head to the ceiling and let out an endless stream of broken, pained laughter. Her head shook back and forth and tears began to stream freely down her face. "MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Her toes curled and her feet wiggled with endless aplomb as her feet were assaulted by the brush.

By now Kazuto's fury had reached critical mass. His girlfriend was being straight-up tickle tortured in front of him and he couldn't do anything to stop it but watch and scream at their tormentor.

"Stop it you monster! I swear when I get out of here there'll be hell for you to pay!" The boy yelled in helpless anger as he continued to watch Asuna lose control of herself like this. But the man just ignored him and continued fluffing the brush up and down Asuna's soles, completely absorbed in his work as their pleas fell on deaf ears.

"STOP! AHAHAHAHAHHA STOP! PLEHEHEHEHEEHEHEHEHASE! I CAN'T…I can't breathe…I…I…" Asuna's laughter and words began to die down in unison before her body ended up going limp in a matter of seconds to Kazuto's horror.

"ASUNA!" Kazuto roared, furious tears filling his eyes.

"Oh, would you look at that! She's passed out! What a shame, and she was such fun to tickle!" Kageyama snickered as he mockingly wiggled her big toes. Something immediately snapped inside Kazuto as he did so, and within seconds he was a flailing mess of rage and fury in his binds, yelling out all manners of expletives and curses at the man. He continued to do so as Kageyama tauntingly waved his index finger in front of him. "I guess it's time for Mr. Brush to get you too, Kazuto-kun!" He sneered as he wasted no time in giving Kazuto's soles the same treatment as his now-passed-out girlfriend.

"YOHOHOHOHOU BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHSTARD!" Kazuto screamed in ticklish agony as his feet were assaulted by the tickling-tool. To his even further dismay, the man began tauntingly singing at him.

"Ticklish feet, ticklish feet, your ticklish feet are so sweet, they give us lots of data to eat!" Kageyama teasingly mocked him, giving him an innocent smile.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO AHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!" Kazuto screamed in uncontrollable laughter, thrashing out in his seat in one last-ditch effort to escape, but he only succeeded in bruising his wrists against the metal clamps. He had lost all sense of time as he laughed. Had he been tickled for hours? Days? His entire mind was a complete mess as only estranged, pained laughter escaped his lips. Soon enough, it became hard for him to breathe as well, and the whole world went black for him as well.

* * *

"Ugh…ngh…GAH!" Kazuto awoke as he found himself leaning on asphalt instead of a metal chair, remembering the events that happened and looking around the area in alarm. He found himself in an alleyway in the city, tired and exhausted.

"Kazuto-kun! Are you okay?" A pair of hands grabbed him and pulled him close. The sudden motion made him jump before he realized it was only Asuna, hugging him close.

"Never mind me! What about you?!" Kazuto asked in a panic, hugging her closely as guilt wracked his mind. "Damn it! This is my fault…Asuna I'm so sorry…" He uttered, his voice full of regret. "If I hadn't been so careless we…" He then found himself silenced by Asuna's index finger was put to his lips.

"Shh…don't worry about it. The important thing is that we're both still alive." Asuna relaxed him, gently stroking his back. "But I think you learned an important lesson from this didn't you?" She smirked at him.

"You're right…I'll never forget this." He growled as he got to his feet. "Come on, let's go call the police and get those bastards arrested." He said as he stood up and pulled out his phone, which their captors had surprisingly didn't steal.

"Wait Kazuto-kun." Asuna halted him, much to his surprise. "I…I don't think that's going to do any good. Do we even have any proof of what he did to us?" She added in concern.

"Well it's not like we can just let them get away with this kind of crap!" Kazuto shot back.

"Kazuto-kun, I hate to say this…but I think they kind of did." Asuna replied, remembering how the man acted while tickling the two of them. "If we call the police on them I think that's only going to get us in trouble. I wouldn't have put it past them to not rip up that contract either. Let's…let's just go home" Asuna added sadly. Kazuto grit his teeth. She was right. He put his phone away and took her hand.

"All right. Let's go. Oh, Asuna?" Kazuto asked.

"Yeah?"

"Let's not mention this ever again, and from now on let's decide where to go for our dates together." Asuna smiled.

"Agreed."


End file.
